When the Panthers lost to the Saints 34-13 in Week 3, Ron Rivera said afterwards that if five or six plays had gone their way, they might have won a game they lost by three scores. While that may have been overly positive coach-speak about an early-season loss to a division rival, there was a clear turning point in the Panthers 31-26 loss to the New Orleans Saints in the Wild Card round of the playoffs in New Orleans that ended Carolina’s season after a single postseason game.
The Panthers defense had forced the explosive Saints offense into two consecutive three-and-outs to begin the game, and the Panthers embarked on one of their trademark long drives that has defined their season. After leading the league in drives over six minutes, the Panthers were in the midst of another beauty, beginning at their own 30 and marching 55 yards to the Saints 15 and absorbing over six minutes of game time.
And then, it happened.
Cam Newton hit his security blanket, Greg Olsen, over the middle and he angled towards the first-down marker before slipping down two yards short. Newton put a dagger between Kaelin Clay’s hands along the sidelines in the endzone which the former Buffalo Bill couldn’t haul in on third down, bringing in Graham Gano, he of the highest field goal percentage in the NFL during the regular season, who promptly pushed the 25-yarder wide right, the shortest postseason missed field goal in over a decade.
The Panthers had wasted a golden opportunity to score, and as good teams are want to do, the Saints took full advantage; Drew Brees heaved a pass downfield to Ted Ginn, Jr, who fought off a meager tackle attempt by James Bradberry and dashed into the endzone. A possible seven point lead turned into a seven point deficit in 18 seconds, and the Saints were off to the races in the first half.
“We spotted them too many in the beginning,” said Greg Olsen. “Not being able to score in the red zone; going 0-for-2 there, well, 0-for-3; we only got six points. That was the difference in the game.”
“We just didn’t do a good job; we moved the ball pretty much at will the whole game, we just struggled in the first half in the red zone. Those turned out to be points that we kept chasing.”
After beginning the game with two three-and-outs for nine total yards, the Saints offense would score on their next four drives of the first half, amassing 266 yards on four drives and scoring 21 points, capitalizing on Drew Brees picking apart the Panthers defense for medium length passes, with Brees rolling to 230 yards passing and two scores in the first half. Brees would finish with 376 yards and a 115.2 quarterback rating, spreading the ball to eight different receivers, with both Michael Thomas (8 for 131) and Ted Ginn (4 for 115) breaking the century mark.
While the Saints were racing out to 21 points in the first half, the Panthers were rushing to the finish line only to stop short of their goal, twice driving inside the Saints 25-yard line and settling for field goals. The Panthers would head to halftime down 21-9 after a 58-yard Graham Gano field goal, the longest in the franchise’s postseason history, as the half expired.
“What’d we kick? Four, I think it was,” Ron Rivera said after the game about the Panthers’ struggle to convert long drives into touchdowns. “You’re not going to win football games if you do things like that, especially against really good football teams like this.”
The Panthers would come out firing after the first half, once again driving over 70 yards inside the Saints five-yard line before faltering and sending Gano on to kick his fourth field goal of the game; the next drive would see Will Lutz matching his Carolina counterpart with a 57-yard field goal to keep the Saints lead at 12.
Another long drive for the Panthers, this one 68 yards, would finally end with a touchdown as Newton found Greg Olsen over the middle for a 14-yard score to cut the lead to 24-19 with 12:52 remaining in the game. Olsen continued his excellent play in New Orleans, making an impact with eight catches for 107 yards and the touchdown after missing both matchups between the division rivals who finished with matching 11-5 regular season records.
After a stop to get the ball back, a scary situation developed when Newton was sacked on second down from the Panthers 20 and struggled to exit the field, collapsing in a heap as he headed towards the sidelines. Both Ron Rivera and Newton said after the game that the issue was with Newton’s eye and not a concussion as assumed by most people watching, including the NFL, who have announced that they will speak to Panthers’ team doctors regarding the concussion protocol. Newton was taken into the blue medical tent on the sidelines and would return after missing only one play.
“It was precautionary concussion protocol,” said Newton after the game. “But it wasn’t my head, it was my eye; my helmet had came down low enough over my eyelid and it got pressed by the player’s stomach, I believe. I thought maybe somebody had stuck a finger in my eye, but I had a visor, so that couldn’t happen.
Unfortunately, while Newton was in the tent, he may have missed the most important drive of the game as Brees again led the Saints down the field for another touchdown, this drive highlighted by a 46-yard pass that saw Brees roll to his right and hit Michael Thomas in stride; the drive was eventually capped off by an Alvin Kamara two-yard touchdown, which was, surprisingly, one of the few contributions from the Saints dynamic duo of running backs.
Much of the pregame hype centered around the Panthers ability to stop the Saints running game, and the defense was up to the challenge, limiting Kamara and Ingram, who had combined for over 3,000 total yards in the regular season, to less than two yards per carry and only 68 total yards.
After the Kamara touchdown put the Saints up two scores, the Panthers answered back with a Christian McCaffrey catch and run that put seven points on the board in less than a minute of game time, putting the onus on the defense to get the ball back, and get the ball back they did. With the Saints facing a third-and-two, Julius Peppers and Shaq Thompson combined to stop Kamara for no gain; when Drew Brees and the offense stayed on the field as the clock hit the two-minute warning, most assumed the Saints would simply try to draw the Panthers offsides.
But Sean Payton, ever the gambler, decided to go for it; an ill-advised Drew Brees throw into traffic was intercepted by Mike Adams at the Panthers thirty-yard line to give Cam Newton and the Panthers one more chance with 1:51 left on the clock down by five points.
“It’s just one of those things,” Rivera said of Adams’ interception, which actually hurt the Panthers; if the team had batted the pass down, the Saints would have turned the ball over on downs and the Panthers would have received possession at the New Orleans 47-yard line instead of their own 30. “You wish he would have dropped it or batted it down. You know, just knowing the situation or circumstances. I would have loved [for the officials to have reviewed the play], because I heard some people saying he bobbled it going out of bounds or whatever it was; but they never did. That was kind of tough.”
Ultimately, the Panthers wouldn’t be able to overcome that deficit, no matter the gutsy, valiant performance put forward by Newton, Funchess, and Olsen on the final drive. An intentional grounding play on second-and-10 from the Saints 21-yard line that appeared to see both Newton outside the pocket and Funchess in the area of the incompletion was discussed by officials for what seemed like an eternity before being upheld, and the following heave to the endzone was lost by Funchess in the lights.
Here’s the intentional grounding play that was called on Cam Newton, was he outside the pocket? pic.twitter.com/ChNSwvS5DK
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) January 8, 2018
The final play of the Panthers season was a sack, with Newton fittingly scrambling wildly, looking desperately for anyone to throw the ball to before ultimately succumbing to the defenders clawing at him.
“Everybody gets an A+ from me,” said a physically beaten Devin Funchess in the locker room, where the 23-year old was unable to raise his left arm to button his shirt after aggravating a shoulder injury he initially hurt in this same building a month prior. “Everybody left it all out there on the field. You can’t ask for more than that.”
“We just came up short.”
Additional Notes:
- Defensive end Charles Johnson was a healthy scratch before the game; the 31-year old who is second on the franchise’s list of all-time sack leaders was suspended for four games for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs before returning for the season finale in Atlanta last week and playing 17 snaps, the fewest of any active defensive end.
- Cornerback Kevon Seymour was also declared inactive before the game; a sickness circulated throughout the Panthers locker room this week during practice, causing Derek Anderson and Matt Kalil to miss practice. Eventually, the illness made it to Seymour, who was not well enough to play in the playoff game. Seymour played 17% of the snaps last week in Atlanta.
- Daryl Worley was evaluated for a concussion in the third quarter but returned.
- Cam Newton finished the game with 349 yards and two touchdowns for a passer rating of 105.1 on the day; he set a new franchise record for most passing yards in a postseason game and passed Jake Delhomme to move into first place all-time with 134 career postseason completions.
- Christian McCaffrey finished with 101 yards receiving on six receptions, his 56-yard touchdown catch was the longest reception by a running back in postseason franchise history.
- Mike Adams’ interception in the fourth quarter was the only turnover of the game; this was the first game of the 2017-18 season that the Panthers lost when they won the turnover battle against their opponent.
- New Orleans will move on to face the Minnesota Vikings in the divisional round of the playoffs.
